I’m pretty sure Charles Schultz and William Randolph Hearst would never sit down to dinner.  They would have a hard time agreeing on the table.

Schultz was born nearly 60 years after Hearst, but their lifetimes did cross.  I don’t profess to be a scholar on either man, but it is my opinion they could not have been more dissimilar.

Last week, while on vacation, I visited the Charles Schultz Museum and Hearst Castle.  Both are marvels for different reasons.  The Shultz Museum is a tribute and showcase of the life Charles Schultz lived and the warm, endearing Peanuts characters he created.  There are also exhibits about the art and history of comics, mainly the ones that inspired Schultz. The museum is across the street from Snoopy’s Home Ice (an indoor ice skating rink) and the Warm Puppy Cafe.  Both were built by Schultz many years ago.  He liked to play ice hockey and every morning would have breakfast at the cafe before work.  Schultz appears to have been a very complex mind living an uncomplicated life.  His museum is beautiful, lots of maple, very airy and streamlined.  It includes the desk his wife had made for him and the drawing table where he created his strips.

The Hearst Castle is nothing shy of stunning.  It sits on tens of thousands of acres of sea side land.  The main house is 65,000 square feet with 38 bedrooms.  It’s Mediterranean with beautiful tile work.  It has a 350,000 gallon swimming pool.  The entire experience was on a massive scale.  Hearst was an extreme collector of things.  He filled his home with lots of things, some valuable and some not so much.  William Randolph Hearst made a lot of money during his life and he spent it on impressive things.  His house fealt nothing like a home and while it is magnificent, it is rooted in wealth, acquiring things.

I’m not sure how much money Charles Schultz made in his lifetime.  I’m guessing it was significant, but it doesn’t seem to have pervaded his life.  Schultz’s life seem to have been about creating something, giving of himself through his characters.  I like that and I like what I learned about him.

W.R. Hearst led a very opulent life and his castle is a museum of the finest things money can buy.  His story was a little sad, lonely even.

Money is really nice to have.  It buys things, some times even freedom and experiences.  Finding depth in the simple, creating a body of work you can be proud of, and touching others for generations…that seems like more fun.

My thoughts from the laundry room.  Night.

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